Get that kid out of here!

Recently Al Watts wrote a blog for Momaha.com (click here) based on dad discrimination. What a great article and true, it reminded me of something that happened a while ago about a different kind of discrimination, not dad and not mom but child discrimination.

Child discrimination I think is the worst kind. As parents we can deal with it in an adult manner, or at least I hope we can to set a good example, but children are as innocent as they come when this is dumped on them.

I was shopping in a well known discount membership store getting some groceries in bulk to try and save a little $$$. One of my daughters had to use the restroom, well this was kind of an awkward time, the girls knew how to use the bathroom at home but I wasn’t ready to let them go into a public restroom by themselves “being over protective dad here” but that’s my decision.

So, I brought her into the men’s restroom, she wasn’t wearing diapers anymore so letting it go wasn’t an option anymore. It just so happened that an older employee of the store was in there as I helped my daughter in the stall. The employee grunted under breathe and said “they shouldn’t be in here”! Being the dad I am I asked the employee if he had a problem and he told me that little girls should not be in the men’s restroom (not in those exact words but you get the point), and I said to him that she had to go and that’s what she doing. He more or less stormed out of the restroom and when my daughter was done I sought out a manager and let him know of the situation and how I was shocked at the reaction of the employee.

The manager had asked if I could point the man out and I did, with pleasure…The employee was immediately terminated.

The hardest part of this whole thing was trying to explain to my daughter what happened when she asked me “Daddy, why was that man mad at me?” I choked up a little, even though it wasn’t an unreasonable question, coming from a little girl, the situation got to me as I did my best to explain.

Maybe this was more like a belief the employee had but discrimination is discrimination. Child discrimination unfortunately is a force to be reckoned with, the ignorance of some people just keep it alive and pass it on. It’s my hope that the chain will be broken and this will disappear one day.